Running a successful eCommerce store is not easy, especially when the digital marketplace is a dog-eat-dog world where most e-stores are eaten alive in their first 90 days.
An online venture goes through many trials and errors before achieving a successful presence in the market. Whether you own a small or big e-com store, it’s highly likely that you will or might be making some common mistakes. And repeating these mistakes means losing subscribers and a rising churn rate.
If you’re serious about taking your under-performing e-venture to the next level and holding onto the revenue and customers you deserve, avoid these nine most common eCommerce mistakes that turn your subscribers away.
To make your entrepreneurial life less stressful, we will also be sharing some expert advice on how to fix them.
eCommerce Mistakes Your Subscribers Are Running Away From
By 2030, there’ll be more than 300 million online shoppers in the US alone – that’s 91% of the country’s current population! Obviously, this means the opportunities for starting online businesses are here to stay.
There are already 9.1 million online stores globally, while 2.5 million are in the United States. It’s great to have a generation full of e-entrepreneurs, but the question is… are they all successful?
The truth is that only a handful of online ventures succeed (the success rate is somewhere at only 10%). If you don’t want your customers to abandon their carts, you must avoid these common mistakes.
Limited/No Categories
What if your customers can’t find what they are looking for? Add categories and subcategories to your website so that buyers can find what they’re looking for easily. A good consumer journey increases conversions and decreases churn rate.
Poor Navigation
Easy and swift navigation is crucial for the overall design of an eCommerce store. What if a website has everything (products, details, deals, contact information, shipping and returns details, shipment tracking, FAQs, tutorials, and whatnot) but doesn’t have easy navigability to access any of these amazing/helpful pages?
To make your online store legitimate, give customers a simplified online shopping experience by having enough navigation menus, product filters, and sorting menus.
Providing Limited Information
It takes more than beautiful product shots to convince online shoppers. Factors like shipping rates, delivery time, return and refund options, availability of chatbots, contact information, etc., influence their buying decisions. Not having any of this information available may create friction among customers and turn them away from your brand.
Complicated Sign-up Process
Encouraging customers to create an account on your site is a good practice. It brings you sales leads and helps you promote new campaigns and special offers. But this tactic can yield results only if the signing up process is easy and user-friendly, asking for information that matters the most.
To make your online presence more authoritative and less spammy (and follow the European GDPR law), put a permission checkbox in the registration form for all sensitive/personal information you collect.
Limited Options
Make sure your website offers multiple shipping options and payment methods and that you don’t advertise out-of-stock products. In today’s world, being restricted to just one shipping/payment method or finding their desired goods unavailable creates unnecessary barriers for customers.
Unpredictable Pricing Model
Price has a definite impact on the customers’ churn rate; we all want value, whereas businesses need to make a profit. If your prices are too high, customers usually move to another brand. Experts recommend being in the acceptable/affordable range and keeping your competitors’ prices in mind before implementing any pricing strategies.
Copied Content
If your online presence looks exactly like your competitors’, why would customers stay? What compels them to purchase from you? You can take inspiration from your competitors but don’t replicate what they do. Instead, differentiate your store by taking advantage of what your competitors are missing.
Customers do an online search before buying anything online, and if they find your website design, layout, or/and content copied, they would never trust your e-store, no matter how attractive deals you’re offering.
Not Using Analytics
If you don’t know how many users visit your e-store and how long they stay, how will you know where to direct your marketing efforts and dollars? Marketing depends solely on customer behavior data like:
- Number of sign-ups/subscriptions
- Cart abandons
- Most-purchased products
- On-site behavior, etc.
How to Retain an eCommerce Customer
From Google search rankings to the number of subscribers, churn rate, conversion rate, and everything in between, website design can help enhance all these factors.
Here’s how to create a lasting impression among customers while gaining new ones and retaining existing ones:
- Work on your email marketing – There’s no better way to connect to your subscribers than sending them personalized promotions. You can send them surveys, information about current deals and special offers, and other personalized messages.
- Avoid a one-size-fits-all experience – Use a CRM tool to dissect your customers in different segments and market accordingly. You can also use different templates like Google docs invoice templates for personalized invoices.
- Use social media channels to engage with customers – If you can’t reach your customers via emails, try convincing them on social media platforms to make repeat purchases. You can also use your posts to probe feedback. The aim of regular posts is to keep in touch with your existing customers.
- Curate fresh and valuable content – Publish a mix of promotional and informational content and post on time to attract customers. You can add a new blog article, use social media channels, send newsletters, and invest in super-helpful premium content.
- Start a customer loyalty program – More than 70% of customers prefer a brand with a good loyalty program, whereas 58.7% of online shoppers find earning rewards and loyalty points valuable.
- Opt for user-generated content – One of the best ways to keep your customers engaged and win their loyalty is to encourage them to create content for your store. For example, you can offer them some incentives (like beast prices) to get them to leave a testimonial or review.
It’s important to retain existing customers if you want your eCommerce business to succeed. Studies show a 5% increase in customer retention increases profits by 25%. Existing customers spend an average of 33% or more on repeat purchases; they are less costly than new acquisitions, increase customer acquisition rate and overall brand awareness, and are a good source of PR.
Wrapping Up
Repeating these eCommerce mistakes can turn away your customers and lower your profits. Put your buyers first and provide a friendlier experience by removing all the barriers, from bad navigation to missing shipping, product details, content, payment options, and security details.
Whenever you’re confused about any decision regarding customer experience, just think - how would you feel and react if you were in their shoes? Empathizing with your core clientele is the only way to get them coming back again and again.
